Trumbull baseball beats New Canaan, advances to FCIAC semis

Ryan Lacey

Updated 12:31 am, Tuesday, May 21, 2013

NEW CANAAN -- Oftentimes in baseball a simple bounce or tricky hop can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

After registering one hit in 4 2/3 innings Monday and trailing 1-0 to No. 4 seed New Canaan with its season on the line, No. 5 Trumbull was sprung to life as a result of such a circumstance and put together a big inning to begin its FCIAC title defense.

Rams pitcher Andrew Casali had retired six straight before Vinny Ciambriello hit a ground ball that bounced right on top of the first-base bag and into the outfield for a single.

The play led to a five-run -- all with two outs -- fifth inning highlighted by Colin Keyes' three-run double as the Eagles advanced to the semifinals of the FCIAC tournament with a 6-3 win over host New Canaan at Mead Park. Trumbull will meet Greenwich on Wednesday at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport at 7:30 p.m. in a rematch of last season's championship game.

"Momentum seemed to be going (New Canaan's) way after they scored in the bottom of the fourth," Trumbull coach Phil Pacelli said. "Sometimes you need a funny play, a funny bounce, to change things in your favor and that definitely did for us. The bats started to come alive after that."

After Ciambriello reached and was lifted for a pinch-runner, Brandon Liscinksy was hit by a pitch and Willy Velez tied the game with an RBI single. Casey Mack followed with a double before Trumbull (15-6, 14-5 FCIAC) loaded the bases and Keyes drilled a ball down the line to make it 5-1.

"We're just doing our jobs out there," Mack said. "Just getting men on base and you have to hit the ball to get them in and that's what we did. That's how we win games."

New Canaan (16-5, 14-5 FCIAC) tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 6-1. Base hits by Matt Toth and Casali set up the Rams with one out and Toth scored on a throwing error by the Eagles. Erik Jager beat out an infield single to plate Casali, but Trumbull relief pitcher Avery Santos got Nick Cascione to pop out to end the game.

"We're a team that figures back, we always come back fighting," Mack said.

"We go out there play good defense and get good pitching. We were able to get back in it."

TRUMBULL 000 050 1--6 8 1

NEW CANAAN 000 100 2--3 8 0

Records: Trumbull 15-6, 14-5 FCIAC; New Canaan 16-5, 14-5. Batteries: T--Gerard Spiegel (W), Avery Santos (S) and James DeNomme; NC--Andrew Casali (L) and Casey Oullette. Highlights: T--Colin Keyes went 1-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Willy Velez went 2-for-4 with an RBI. NC--Andrew Casali went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Casey Oullette went 1-for-3 with a walk, double and an RBI.